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Myra: You know, literally our biggest struggle here is knowing which side of right we're walking on, so... I mean, I wish all these problems could be solved by a community bake sale, but they can't. I do go home sometimes and just cry myself to sleep, because... well, we're only human, right? But not tonight. Because tonight is 'make dinner for my mama' night.
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Angela: So now is probably not a great time to come and get my library card?
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Jackson: It's cold enough for you, Mr. Goodson?
Stuart Goodson: It's gonna be brutal, the next couple of nights, for sure.
Jackson: We could all come stay at your place!
Stuart Goodson: ...I would if I could...
Jackson: You could but you won't. No judgement here, though.
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Josh Davis: It is my job to uphold the law and to protect democracy in this city.
Anderson: You know, I devoted my entire life to preserving the freedom of information that flows in and out of this institution! The public library is the last bastion of democracy in this country, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit here and let you thugs turn it into a battlefield!
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Ernesto: Athena, time to go.
Homeless Women: I'll leave when I'm damn good and ready!
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Stuart Goodson: The patrons are staging an action!
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Angela: It must be really nice to have a job where you get to sit around and read all day.
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Jackson: [Chanting] Make some noise! Make some noise!
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Stuart Goodson: Cold enough for you, Ernesto?
Ernesto: I'm taking my ass back to Mexico if this cold keeps up!
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Detective Bill Ramstead: Sooner or later you have to open that door.
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Caesar: The United States Navy sailed its first ships in 1492!
Jackson: Hail Caesar!
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Big George: But I'm not a criminal!
Smutts: None of us are, brother. Never broken God's law in my life. Always did right. I served my country, I married my high school mama, raised three kids, even paid my taxes. But you lose that job, shit...
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Angela: So you're just really into books, huh?
Stuart Goodson: Books saved my life.
Angela: Saved your life?
Stuart Goodson: Books helped me get sober, and helped me turn my life around. They're tangible, they're real. Something I can get my hands and my head around, so yeah. They saved my life.
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Josh Davis: They're not coming out of there unless we make them.
Detective Bill Ramstead: I know.
Josh Davis: No matter how this thing goes down, we're gonna look like the bad guys.
Detective Bill Ramstead: ...I know.
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Jackson: Mr. Goodson, I gotta talk to you. Look, uh, all the shelters downtown are full up again!
Stuart Goodson: Uh-huh, what about the emergency overflow at Shelter House?
Jackson: That's a forty minute walk away. In this weather? In these shoes? Look, Mr. Goodson, you know I'm a veteran, right? I served my country. This all I get?
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Big George: I've never been to jail.
Jackson: That's 'cause you ain't been on the street long enough, George. Give it time.
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Detective Bill Ramstead: Goodson, your intellectual vanity is breathtaking. These people that you're protecting, your patrons. Is it worth it? Is it worth throwing your life away for? Would they do the same for you? Not on your life, pal. I've been working with drunks and addicts and the mentally ill for my entire career, all day, every day. And they're not your friends. They don't give two shits about you! All they care about is their next hit, their next bottle, their next meal, and they will beg, borrow, and steal to get that from you.
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Ernesto Ramirez: [He and Stuart approach Jackson and Smutts] What's going on, fellas?
Jackson: Caesar's missing. No one has seen him since last night!
Smutts: We were riding on the metro to keep warm. Somewhere along the way, he must have wandered off. We looked around, and he was just gone!
Jackson: Just like that. One minute, he's there. Next minute, he's not! We looked all around, no one has seen him. I mean, *nobody*!
Smutts: Cold must have gotten him, Mr. Goodson...
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Stuart Goodson: Have you ever been arrested?
Myra: No, have you?
Stuart Goodson: Unfortunately. Pepper sprayed?
Myra: No! You have?
Stuart Goodson: ...Are we staying or we going?
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Angela: Excuse me. Can I talk to you for a sec?
Rebecca Parks: Honey, look, we're about to go live. I don't have the time. Sorry, doll.
Angela: I was wondering if you wanted to have contact with my friend who's in the middle of the situation inside, but since you're being such a bitch, I'm gonna have to find someone else to give the exclusive to.
Rebecca Parks: No, no, no. Ma'am! Ma'am! Ma'am, what's your name?
Angela: I'm Angela.
Rebecca Parks: Angela?
Angela: Yeah.
Rebecca Parks: Hey. I've had an impossible day.
Angela: Really? Did your manicurist cancel on you?
Rebecca Parks: I deserve that.
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Jackson: Every public official in this town knows there's not enough shelter for us people on the street. And these so-called Christians, they pretend like they don't know that. Feed the hungry. Clothe the poor. House the homeless. Now see, that's what Jesus said!
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Josh Davis: Stuart Goodson... What is it with this guy? He seems hell bent on ruining my week!
Anderson: He thinks he's saving people's lives by keeping them out of the cold.
Josh Davis: Well, we have shelters in place for that!
Ernesto Ramirez: Well, apparently not enough of them!
Josh Davis: So that's what this is all about? It's some sort of exercise in civil disobedience?
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Anderson: I'm not in a position to declare our library an emergency shelter.
Stuart Goodson: People are freezing to death in our own city! How can you be okay with that?
Anderson: Woah, hey! I'm not! I'm not okay with it.
Stuart Goodson: Okay, you could call the mayor's office, call the mayor's office right now!
Anderson: Mr. Goodson... Stuart. Listen. The board trustees want you gone. That's what's going on. I'm trying, but I'm having a difficult time making a case for you to stay here. So no, the library will not be an emergency shelter tonight, tomorrow, not ever.
Stuart Goodson: ...They wanna fire me?
Anderson: They'd prefer if you tendered your resignation.
Stuart Goodson: I was following library protocol... they wanna fire me for doing my job?
Anderson: I'm sorry. It's out of my control.
[Walks away from Stuart]
Stuart Goodson: Out of your control? You have no idea how much shit is about to get out of your control, sir!
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Jackson: Reckon there's gonna be a hundred angry cops at the door soon, huh? You know there's a lot of vets in here. Can't imagine they'd care either way...
Stuart Goodson: We're all a bunch of bums, Jackson. Don't you know that?
Jackson: They gonna get in, they always do. This time, I'm a fight back.
Stuart Goodson: It's a fight you'll lose.
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Stuart Goodson: Sorry about tonight, Mr. Anderson.
Anderson: I'm not.
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Detective Bill Ramstead: Goodson, you've got the doors open now, this is an opportunity for you to stand down, end this right now.
Stuart Goodson: You want us out? Give us somewhere to go. How about we all go to your place?
Detective Bill Ramstead: Well, my ex-wife got the house in Mt. Adams, so I'd love to see everybody go over there!
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Anderson: [Stuart has just quoted John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" to explain himself to the media] Good words.
Stuart Goodson: I wish they'd been mine...
Anderson: They *are* yours, Stuart. And mine. Theirs. They belong to all of us.
The Public Quotes
Extended Reading
